The field of this invention relates to color photographic printing, and in particular to an apparatus for the reproduction of an enlarged photographic print from a photographic negative or transparency, in a lighted environment without the aid of a darkroom.
In recent years, there has been significantly increased public interest in photography as a hobby. Particularly, home printing of pictures has increased markedly. Typical tools of the photographer are a darkroom and associated darkroom equipment, which includes an enlarger and processing equipment.
The various manipulative steps necessary in creating the picture must be conducted in the absence of extraneous light that would effect the light sensitive photographic material. The common photographic procedure is to form an image on film; and which is capable of transmitting colored light in amounts controlled by the image intensity. Colored prints are produced in either the same size or an enlarged size by transmitting light through the film causing the transmitted light to impinge upon a light sensitive paper. This operation must be done in an area where light other than the transmitted light through the film is excluded.
The use of the darkroom is normally a necessity to perform the photographic processes to create durable pictures from light images. The darkroom is a fixed, enclosed area, generally a room in a house or building from which all outside light can be excluded. This darkroom requires a considerable amount of space. It is generally impractical, particularly for non-professional photographers, to set aside such a space for this purpose alone. The darkroom is probably the greatest obstacle preventing people from enjoying photography as a hobby. Many dwellings, particularly apartments, simply are not large enough to allow an entire room to be continuely used as a darkroom. The part time use of a bathroom or closet necessitates bothersome and time consuming unpacking and packing of photographic equipment before and after use.
Also, many individual would like to take advantage of reproducing photographic prints and enlarged photographic prints from photographic transparencies without necessitating the constructing of a darkroom. An individual may have an extensive library of 35 millimeter photographic slides (common terminology for a photographic transparency) and that individual may desire to produce a print of a particular slide. If the individual does not have a darkroom, he must then take the slide to a photographic print reproduction print facility and have the print reproduced.
Instead of the individual having to utilize outside reproduction facilities or a darkroom, it would be of great advantage to utilize a compact, portable photographic printmaker which could be utilized within the individual's home or apartment, easy to operate by a person of minimal skill or training, which produces the print in a short period of time and which can be manufactured at a relatively minimal cost.